Control Z - Mexican high school drama from Netflix

[justinate]

Next week (May 22) Netflix Latinoamerica drops this Spanish-language series where an unknown hacker throws a Mexican high school into chaos by publicly exposing various students' secrets. The initial outing of a trans girl Isabela (played by Zion Moreno) sets into motion a string of revelations, including the outing of another queer kid - this time a gay boy (Patricio Gallardo).

Fair warning: Don't expect too much because the trailer focuses primarily on the two leads Sofia (Ana Valeria Becerril) and Javier (Michael Ronda) but both Zion and Pat do appear to be part of the regular cast, if the cast photo is anything to go by - although I still cannot find the latter's character name.



Zion and Pat are at the far left of this cast photo:

http://instagram.com/p/B9ANPsHDtU2

[dmagiclight]

Looks like this could be fun to watch I ind my self watch more foreign series and movies these days

[jblaze018]

May 11, 2020 12:30:57 GMT -5 dmagiclight said:

Looks like this could be fun to watch I ind my self watch more foreign series and movies these days

I've always watched foreign shows and movies. Just one more to add to the list. Hopefully it's worth the watch.

[justinate]

Just finished binge-watching this.

The good news: It's very watchable (in a car-crash sense). You can guess the hacker before the big reveal but it's pretty tightly-plotted.

The bad news: The gay content is dreadful. Absolutely abysmal. The show revolves around how hypocritical and flawed practically the entire cast are, but there is a special level of awful for the (presumed) gay character. Highlight to read spoilers: The trope that bullying and beatings are common elements of gay romance is portrayed for the umpteenth time. Gerry's secret is that he looks at gay porn - whether he is gay or simply bi-curious is never definitively answered in the series, which is probably for the best given what an utterly loathsome bully he is. His principal victim is Luis, a quiet, artistic boy (yeah very stereotypical) although even Gerry's friend Pablo gets mocked for being gay when his girlfriend (with whom he is very sexually active) is exposed as a trans woman. Luis, in attempt to escape the relentless bullying by being expelled, falsely confesses to being the hacker; in retaliation, Gerry brutally beats him into a coma, from which Luis never recovers. After Luis dies, Gerry goes after the actual hacker with a gun - having not learned his lesson that violence is never the answer - at which point the hacker reveals Luis' secret was that he liked Gerry. So the boy Gerry bullied and tormented for months on end ... was in love with his bully ... a closet case who ended up killing him. And then Gerry winds up shooting, and potentially killing, yet another person. Yay representation!

[cybersparky]

it was good, as a drama and emphasis on the drama part, in terms of representation it was meh and typical in terms of tropes, but it cant be all rainbows and sunshine all the time, as more than not people face the reality of what happened and until its highlighted attitudes don't change.

its a good commentary on the current times, especially for teens and the not really caring attitude they now have to social media and the internet and the things they put on there.

[justinate]

In a surprising move, Netflix seems to have renewed Control Z for a second season. I can't find any official announcement but star Michael Ronda announced it on his Instagram, and his co-star responded, so hopefully it's legit. Of course, it's anyone's guess if there will be any gay representation next season given that the first ended with one gay character dying and the other being guilty of his murder.

http://instagram.com/p/CC3rk5ApJkP

[mizuryuu]

I'm kinda surprised it got renewed as well. The whole show feel like it wanted to imitate Veronica Mars or Sherlock, but just felt like a pale comparison. Hopefully, next season will be better

[dmagiclight]

I stopped watching after episode 4 maybe I will finish it someday just didn't Interest me at all

[justinate]

So I got around to watching season 2 of this over the winter break, the gay storytelling had a marked improvement although that's not exactly high praise since it was dire in the first season. Still wish we had a different gay character. Apparently it has been renewed for a third season so we'll see where things go from here.

[jjose712]

I watched some online videos (i didn't even know it were from this show) and it seemed the kind of storyline that wanted to shock the audience. They really insisted in making Gerry a totally unredeemable character

[justinate]

Jan 13, 2022 8:07:29 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

I watched some online videos (i didn't even know it were from this show) and it seemed the kind of storyline that wanted to shock the audience. They really insisted in making Gerry a totally unredeemable character

Yeah, that's why the only way was up for Gerry in season 2. Given that Raul was unmasked as the puppet-master pulling all the strings throughout season 1, it was a totally unexpected partnership between them and it surprisingly worked to humanize both characters. Ultimately, though, causing Luis's death wrote Gerry into a corner and, at least at the end of season 2, he seemed ready to turn himself in for the crime. So assuming he goes through with it, I really don't know where that will leave gay representation in season 3. Wish they'd introduced a new gay/bi male regular.

[justinate]

Season 3 will be the final season, premiering on July 6th.

In Season 3, Immediately after Susana's accidental death, the group makes a pact to keep their involvement a secret and never speak of it again. 15 months later, the group is about to graduate and achieve their dreams. Everything looks very good for them until the hacker reactivates and threatens to take away what they love most.

[justinate]

Patricio Gallardo posted the trailer for the final season, so I assume he - and gay character Gerry - will be in it.

http://instagram.com/p/CejUJMtv9Xo